Release Day Review, Excerpt and Giveaway: Top Shelf by RJ. Scott and V.L. Locey

and V.L. Locey

Genre: Contemporary, Sports, Romance, Hockey, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Brother’s best friend, friends-to-lovers

Released: June 25, 2021

Publisher: Love Lane Books

Series: Boston Rebels, Book 1

Length: 51,000 words

Series Overview:
The Boston Rebels were established in the roaring twenties as one of the Original Six teams in the fledgling new professional hockey league. Success came to them somewhat quickly as they won the championship in nineteen thirty-two by beating New York to become the first American team to bring home the cup.

From the first out NHL captain, to the bright young star making his mark, the defenseman fighting addiction and finding out he’s a dad, to the goalie being stalked by a killer, meet a brand-new team of hockey players from the authors of bestselling MM Hockey Romance, RJ Scott & VL Locey.

Synopsis

Acting on the attraction to his best friend’s brother has always been off the table for Xander until a passionate hookup with Mason at a beach resort begins a love affair that burns long after summer ends.

Mason specializes in assisting same-sex couples on their journey to becoming parents and fighting every rule that blocks his way in the stuck-in-the-past agency that hired him. Living in his brother’s pool house is rent-free, and every cent he earns he saves for his dream—that one day he’d have his own company helping others. The downside is that he has to see his annoying brother every day, the upside is that his brother’s teammates from the Boston Rebels make regular visits. The eye candy that passes Mason’s window is almost enough to make him consider dating a hockey player, but not just any player though. Ever since Xander—his brother’s childhood friend—came out as gay at a press conference, Mason’s puppy love has turned into a burning attraction he can no longer ignore.

Hockey has been one of Xander’s main focuses since he was old enough to balance on skates. Well, hockey and Mason Kingsley, but Mason was always unattainable. Now that he’s about to see thirty candles on his birthday cake and is no longer hiding the fact he’s gay, he’s ready to find a soul mate to make his life complete. A summer vacation is just what he needs to have time to think, but when the Boston Rebels arriving in paradise with Mason in tow, thinking is the last thing he needs. One torrid night under a balmy moon and rules about not messing with his best friend’s brother vanish on a warm, tropical breeze.

Summer romances don’t generally last past Labor Day, but with the new season about to begin Xander and Mason are going to have to face the world and decide if their love is real enough to withstand everything.

Get the FREE prequel, Lost In Boston: https://rjscott.co.uk/LIB_Master

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

A great start to a new hockey romance series!

RJ Scott and V.L. Locey are a fantastic writing duo who have penned many, many male/male hockey romances together. I’m not really a fan of any sports but I am a fan of the books they’ve written individually and together. Everything I know about hockey I’ve learned from reading their stories. 😊

Top Shelf is a great beginning to the Boston Rebels series. It introduces readers to a whole new group of characters and there are appearances by other fan favorites. It’s a great brother’s-best-friend, friends-to-lovers story. It’s also a bit of a slow burn with a nice build up to some sexy time at about 45% into the story.

Mason is the younger brother of Eli, a Boston Rebels hockey star. Eli stepped in and took care of Mason after their parents died when Mason was only 16. Xander and Eli have been best friends almost from the cradle. Their parents lived next door to each other before they were born. When Mason came along, he tagged along after them. Mason has had a crush on Xander forever but it’s only recently that Xander has seen Mason in a different light but there’s no way he can go after his best friend’s little brother, right?

This book has everything I’ve come to expect from a story by this writing pair. There are great characters, humor as well as serious stuff, and lots and lots of feels. It just wouldn’t be an RJ/V.L. book if it didn’t bring me to tears at least once. 😊 ❤

For me, this was a fairly low angst book, with no really big “gotcha” and that’s fine with me. I like just about any kind of romance and this really is a great one. It held my interest right from the start and I couldn’t put it down.

Congrats to RJ and V.L. for the launch of another exciting series of books. Here’s what they have planned:

1. Top Shelf (Boston Rebels 1) – out now
2. Back Check (Boston Rebels 2) – 31 August 2021
3. Snowed (Boston Rebels 3) – 3 December 2021
4. Royal Lines (Boston Rebels 4) – Coming 2022
5. Bar Down (Boston Rebels 5) – Coming 2022
6. Snipe (Boston Rebels 6) – Coming 2022

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

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Excerpt

Mason:

When our parents died, Eli had become my guardian at nineteen, me only fifteen, a pseudo parent who didn’t know how to back off. He fussed and corralled and took me all over the country with him until I was old enough to go to college and then get a job.

Not that I’d moved far from him given I lived in Eli’s pool house free of charge and had no college loans to pay off. Being the little brother of a millionaire pro skater had its pluses. I would pay him back every cent one day, but it wasn’t happening now. In contrast to Becca’s fading jersey, I wore the newest design I could get my hands on because hey, I got perks, and Eli had a ton of them just sitting in his office. The only shitty thing was that it also had some minuses.

Like the fact I was hopelessly in love with my brother’s best friend—Boston’s world-class pushy irritatingly perfect D-Man, Xander freaking Holden.

Books in the Series

Boston Rebels Series

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Giveaway

1 x $10 Gift Card plus, 2 prizes of an ebook from our backlists

Closes 9 July 9am, London

Direct link to giveaway.

Teaser Graphic

About Author

RJ Scott, author of M/M romance.

Writing love stories with a happy ever after – cowboys, heroes, family, hockey, single dads, bodyguards

USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott has written over one hundred romance books. Emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, single dads, hockey players, millionaires, princes, bodyguards, Navy SEALs, soldiers, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, cops, and the men who get mixed up in their lives, always with a happy ever after.

She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing. The last time she had a week’s break from writing, she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a box of chocolates she couldn’t defeat.

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About Author

V.L. Locey

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, Torchwood and Dr. Who, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.)

She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a pair of geese, far too many chickens, and two steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in one hand and a steamy romance novel in the other.

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